Three course University Alliances certificate: North America Program

[Former Member]

I had been told previously that if a student completed three courses with a specified threshold of SAP content, those students could be awarded an SAP University Alliances certificate (not certification). This also recognizes that these students are 'qualified' to take the TERP10 training.

Is this program still ongoing? Is there a template for the physical certificate? (Perhaps incorporating the University Alliances logo.) Is there a specific process that must be followed related to these certificates?

Thanks for any info that can be provided.

Edited by: Heather Czech on Sep 24, 2009 9:01 AM: Tony - I clarified that this Q applies very specifically to the UA program in North America, as each region may have a different response.

[HDM · Accepted solution]

Tony,

Thanks for the question. I'll give you the basics here - then the details can be worked through directly with Gail.

In North America, UA member schools that utilize SAP software in several courses may offer an "recognition award" to students that meet key criteria. Generally speaking, the student must: 1) have taken at least 3 courses that have a minimum of 30% hands-on SAP content in it each course, and 2) must have achieved a grade of "C" or better in each course. Some member schools find that students gain some competitive advantage by being able to demonstrate that they've received a fair amount of SAP content by showing the award to a recruiter in an interview. This award is not tracked by SAP, and is not linked to a TERP10 certification a student may achieve with additional learning and the passing of a certification exam as you noted in your post. Touch bases with Gail offline to go over the process details if you're interested in learning more.

Since you brought up TERP10 (and others may be curious), let me expand a little further on the idea of requiring students to take multiple courses with a good amount of hands-on SAP material to "qualify" to take TERP10. Over the many years we've been offering student certification in North America, students who have been exposed to SAP in multiple courses do better in the TERP10 class & certification exam than those who have not. Some schools choose to extend the TERP10 opportunity only to those that have taken at least 3 courses w/30% SAP content. TERP10 instructors have told us the class becomes difficult to support after the size gets past 25-28, so setting a minimum criteria like this sometimes helps to prioritize participation when a school is only able to offer 1 TERP10 course. In addition to the SAP content criteria, we also recommend in North America that TERP10 attendees be starting their junior or senior year, or are a graduate student. This gives the added benefit of being exposed to many business processes supported by SAP software during their university coursework ... which also helps. The challenge that a student faces if they have no SAP exposure and limited business process exposure is that they have to learn both topics over a busy 2 week period. All that said, Gail and I work with schools on this question to help make sure students have the best chance for success.

Best Regards,

Heather

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Heather. I'll contact Gail sometime soon to work through the details.

On the TERP10 front, having gone through that training this summer, I think the desire for students to have a strong SAP foundation going into the class is definitely important. Given the huge volume of information to process in 2 weeks, I cannot imagine someone who is relatively new to SAP being able to pass the exam, much less go beyond that and really excel in their understanding. (Until you go through it, you really have no idea how much it is to take in and process in that short time frame.)

Even though we now have several SAP-related courses in our programs at ETSU and hope to incorporate the recognition mentioned in this thread, introducing TERP10 is a challenge since our courses are more development oriented. (The accounting content within SAP ERP is something that would be brand new to our students, and almost none of them would have ever taken an accounting course.)

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Tony

I would like to add an additional word of encouragement here. The University Alliances recognition award for three SAP-related courses is put in place for the types of situations that you describe, where a certification like TERP10 may not fit to a particular program.

On the TERP10 front, we just started this program in mid-2008 for UA students. We already have a few thousand students who have successfully passed the exam on the final day of this 10 day course. We have found that the pass rates are outstanding.

There have been a few very helpful posts in our forums with links to materials that assist participants of TERP10 to fill in background gaps and to increase their understand the concepts. I am sure as we get more and more experience with TERP10 in the UA program globally, we will accumulate more resources and methods that add to this success.

Best Wishes

Bob